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Breaking Bad: Why it pissed me off

I literally just finished Breaking Bad. I know. Late to the punch line. Also, spoilers.

I pretty much spent all day today watching season five, and in the end I just feel robbed. Here’s a break down of why.

By season three, I hated everyone. Walt is a sociopath, Skylar is of dubious moral nature, Hank is a douche, and Jesse is just messed up in so many ways. I watched on in horror as to how this once nice man and his once decent family, was turned upside down.

As I continued watching, my loathing for Walter deepened. I felt sorry for Jesse, but he never really wanted to take his life into his hands. He had so many opportunities. I was rooting for Mike, the “security” guy, because he actually did what everyone said you should do: separate emotions and work. But when Mike was bounced, I had to stick with Jesse. In a cesspit of murderers, at least he felt bad for it.

Andrea was the only character I saw as a role model. Given gobs of money, she actually improved her life, gave her son a better place, and she seemingly was off meth. Despite the fact when she actually showed up in episodes for more than five minutes, we saw a mom who was willing to get high at the cost of her kid. In the show, she was seemingly the only one capable of getting past this past time when money was thrown at her.

What happens to the only positive moral lesson in this entire show? Shoot her. Don’t get me wrong, to be honest I don’t feel I should have been as attached to her as I was. I saw a beautiful mother given a second chance, and I thought good of her to take that chance. Did I mention she was beautiful? However, she was rarely in the show at this point. Her major appearances were only when she was the dead beat mom who was stuck with a kid. I am a sucker for Hispanic women.

Overall, I kept watching because I needed to know how it ended. Did I feel lifted up at Walt’s death or Jesse’s freedom? No. Walt left his family shattered He left a lot of lives shattered. All because he found something which made him feel like he mattered.

Jesse will get caught. He has no money, few connections, and not even close to the intelligence required. He’s also basically an abuse victim. While less vulgarly abused by Walter, he was still emotionally crushed and remade by the man several times. Then he spends weeks or months in confinement as a slave. He watched the woman he loved get shot because he tried to flee.

I gave it a three out of five on Netflix. I thought they masterfully told a story with suspense and ridiculously slow pacing. I rarely felt anxious at the pacing, or thought they held a scene too long. On the other hand, if you halved the pauses, the entire series would have been finished three seasons.

The transformations of characters was good in the beginning, but there was a line which was crossed. Walt became too psychotic for too long. Jesse went back and forth too many times. Pendulum is good and all, but the second we’re actually hoping the kid succeeds, he does something that really pushes us to hope he dies soon. Because then Andrea would still be alive and Brock would still have a mom.

"Before the sea she stood, still as a statue but for the wind rippling in her loose lavender-grey dress and toying with her black hair - it billowed in the salty breath of the ocean like a flag of defiance."